Has anybody got any ingenious ideas to get this screw out on the hardtop frankenstein bolt holder thingymajigs?
I’ve tried brute strength and I’ve tried heating it up and then brute strength, no joy as of yet.
Thanks,
Niall
Try giving it a good soak in plugas or something similar.
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remember penetrating fluid works best if you leave to soak for atleast 24 hours
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Two things, those screws are treated with blue loctite on assembly that’s why they are difficult to shift. If you’re lucky releasing fluid may dissolve this and make removal easier. I use a mix of acetone and auto transmission fluid and the acetone may help dissolve the loctite over a period of time. Secondly I bet you used a Phillips or Posidrive screw driver? Mistake… those screws are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) heads and the normal cross headed bits will easily cam out particularly if the screw is tight. I think you need a #3 JIS bit and an impact scew driver may help. Best of luck!
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Stuff like this I find other bits can fit, like a torx bit might just grip. Might sound crazy but I do it all the time. A lot of the screw and bolts I deal with are 2mm-2.5mm and are rounded off and a German T8 torx will remove them 90% of the time. (Obviously I try the proper tool first)
If all else fails then a good cobolt drill bit will do the job. Start small and work your way up and the head of the screw will end up being hollowed out and easy to crush with a flat end or other small tool.
Often the drill method will just remove the head of the screw, which in this case I’m guessing the 2 parts come separate and then the rest of the screw will be exposed and easy to get at. It’s not a method I would advise if the rest of the screw won’t get exposed.
In the end there’s always helicoils.
If you do use plus gas above, be prepared, that stuff stinks and will ruin any clothes etc it touches.
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You could try holding a soldering iron on the screw to melt the thread locking stuff. It might take quite some to get it hot enough.
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I like Paul_W1 soldering iron idea along with an impact driver like this one on the link, just make sure you use the correct bit for that screw.
If using an impact driver make sure it is well supported beind the screw.
Roy
Hmm. I don’t like those things.
It is all too easy to do collateral damage elsewhere when the heavy hammer shock travels though the piece. I’ve seen an end lug crack off a friend’s ancient unobtainable exhaust manifold when trying to undo a wire-brushed, cleaned and plus-gassed but still reluctant rusted nut.
Bad words were said, followed up by much muttering and several cups of tea.
Meanwhile, I went home and fetched my diddy little old 10.8V Bosch impact driver (actually part of a kit but no longer listed, their mini drills look the same but are all 12V now).
Sure enough it did the rest with no effort and zero stress to the manifold casting, studs and head. Manifold was welded and ground and put back again after the head was done.
RichardFX,
Hmmm? Hense my statement to make sure it is supported behind, just a suggestion because it wil stop the screw head slipping out. If not supported well yup damage could be the result, it is already damaged hense cannot be unscrewed.
I have used an impact driver on many occasions with great success, e.g. disk brake disk removal when removing previously damaged screws that have rusted to the hub on my MX5.
Roy
I ended up drilling the screws out on mine they were so seized.
Luckily didn’t cause much damage, managed to run a tap down the hole and fit new screws.
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Used ‘easy out’ type tools in the past as per Rooster1 post, they are good and can work well, worth a try too.
Roy
vessel megadora impacta
Drill, then use appropriate size ‘easy out’ extractor on the end of a socket wrench
Best not buy the cheapest easy out you can get, you tend to ‘get what you pay for’ with tools and you don’t want to be drilling out an over hardened easy out that snaps off!
Been there and done it with cheap taps!
Roy
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If you know the size of the bolt, M6 maybe, then I would drill the center of the bolt out to M4 or M3 with a good drill bit, not a cheepie as the bolt will dull it very quickly. Then using a bolt extractor of a suitable size you should then turn it anti-clockwise to remove it . You can buy sets of extractors for different size bolts.
By drilling the centre out of the bolt you also weaken the grip the bolt has on its female thread.
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